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There are two major types of mirrors.
- Flat or Plane mirrors
- Curved mirrors
Flat or Plane mirrors:
A flat mirror is also called as a plane mirror. A flat / plane mirror is a smooth surface. In a plane mirror, specular reflection will occur when the light comes by, which means that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection from the normal line.
The image formed by a plane mirror is always virtual (meaning that the light rays do not actually come from the image), upright, and of the same shape and size as the object, it is reflecting.
When the eyes receive this light from the mirror, it seems that the object is behind the mirror. This type of image not real, and it's known as a virtual image. It is virtual because light waves do not even pass through that point, and we can only see it, cannot touch it. The distance that separates the mirror and the object is known as object distance. The distance that separates the virtual image and mirror is called image distance.
Curved mirrors:
A curved mirror is a type of mirror which is having a curved reflecting surface. The mirror's surface may be either convex (bulging outward) or concave (recessed inward). Most curved mirrors have surfaces shaped like part of a sphere, but other shapes are also used in optical devices.
The most common non-spherical types are Parabolic, Cylindrical and Ellipsoid found in optical devices such as reflecting telescopes.
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